The present invention relates to massaging apparatus.
In a massaging apparatus of the prior art (as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-122193 or 1-83262), the portions to be frequently used by the user are repeatedly massaged and patted in an automatic course within a preset time period. This is thought to have a main purpose to use the massaging apparatus conveniently.
Most of the automatic courses have specific contents composed of three kinds for the upper body, the lower body and the whole body. If the upper body course is selected, for example, the massage mechanism ascends/descends at first to massage/pat mainly the neck and shoulder positions and the back, and these actions are made within a preset time period (usually within 15 minutes). If the lower body course is selected, on the other hand, the massage mechanism massages/pats mainly the waist and the back, and these actions are ended within the preset time period.
The whole body course is a combination of the upper body course and the lower body course so that the massaging/patting actions are made from the neck/shoulder to the waist within the preset time period.
In short, the massage mechanism seems to provide a convenient course of the massaging apparatus simplifying the complicated operations of the using person.
By the healthy boom of recent years, there have been reconsidered the chiropractic, osteopathy and acupuncture of the Eastern Medical Science, and this reconsideration is also made in Western Countries for investigating their effects. This is not only because of the repeated inspections and the short communications with doctors in the Western Medical Science but also because of the problems of damages from or adverse reactions of excessive medicines.
However, the patients willing to go the clinics for the acupuncture/chiropractic are still few because of the costs in the absence of the Health Insurance and because of the dark images.
Especially in the recent years, the effects of the Eastern Medical Science have been introduced by the mass communications so that the home massaging apparatus have been more spreading in the ordinary families than before.
However, few patients understand that massaging apparatus provides effects such as fatigue recovery, improvement in blood circulation, refreshment of muscles, relief of muscular stiffness, remissions of neuralgia/myalgia (in No. 27 of Yakkan, dated on Feb. 2, 1972), and the massaging apparatus has an image as high as a xe2x80x9cKneading Machinexe2x80x9d.
This is because the concept of the prior art for manufacturing the massaging apparatus is based exclusively on the function to massage/pat the shoulder/waist easily. Therefore, the massaging apparatus of the prior art is not directed to the massage actions aiming at treatments for the mental refreshment or the physical refreshment and, hence, cannot provide the treatment effects according to the treatment purpose.
In view of the problems thus far described, the invention has an object to provide a massaging apparatus enabled to provide sufficient treatment effects by stimulating the Keiketsu (or the effective spots) in the Eastern Medical Science effectively.
The present invention provides the following technical means to attain the above object.
According to the invention, specifically, there is provided a massaging apparatus for massaging the body of a using person with a massage member, comprising: memory means recorded with treatment contents indicating effective point positions to be massaged according to a treatment course and massage actions to be applied to said effective spot positions; and control means for causing the massage member to massage the effective spot positions of the body of the using person in accordance with the treatment contents recorded in said memory means.
In accordance with the desired treatment course, therefore, the Keiketsu (or the effective spots) in the Eastern Medical Science can be so effectively stimulated for the sufficient treatment effects so that the massage aiming at the treatment can be automatically performed.
In the invention, the massaging apparatus further comprises: treatment course select means for selecting the treatment course, whereby the treatment contents corresponding to the treatment course selected by said treatment course select means are read out from said memory means so that the effective spot positions of the body of the using person may be massaged with the massage member by said control means in accordance with the read treatment contents.
As a result, the using person can select the treatment course desired easily so that the effective spots can be automatically massaged according to the desired treatment course thereby to simplify but ensure the treatment by stimulating the effective spots.
In the invention, the massage member further comprises: position discriminating means for discriminating the position of a specific portion of the body of the using person; and effective spot calculating means for calculating the effective spot position of the using person from the specific portion position, as discriminated by said position discriminating means, of the human body of the using person, whereby said massage member is caused to perform the massage actions by moving the massage member sequentially to a plurality of effective spot positions calculated by said effective spot calculating means.
As a result, the position of the specific portion of the body of the using person can be automatically discriminated to calculate the spot location accurately according to the using person from the discriminated specific portion. The massage member can be accurately moved sequentially to a plurality of spot positions so that these spot positions can be automatically massaged with the massage member. Thus, it is possible to practice the massage which can provide the sufficient treatment effects according to the treatment course.
In the invention, the massaging apparatus further comprises: a massage drive unit including a massage member and an air cell made extensible for protruding the massage member toward the using person and contractible for retracting the massage member from the using person, said massage drive unit being made movable along the body of the using person; and a pressure sensor for detecting the internal pressure of said air cell, whereby said massage member is moved along the body of the using person while being protruded toward the using person by the extension of said air cell, so that the position of the specific portion of the body of the using person with respect to said massaging apparatus may be discriminated from the relations between the moving position of the massage member at that time and the internal pressure of the air cell, as detected by said pressure sensor.
As a result, the air cell for protruding/retracting the massage member as it extracts/contracts has its internal pressure widely fluctuate with the load applied thereto so that the internal pressure of the air cell can be fluctuated even with the fine fluctuations of the load. From the relations between the moving position of the massage drive unit and the internal pressure of the air cell, as detected by the pressure sensor, therefore, the location of the specific portion of the body of the using person with respect to the massaging apparatus can be discriminated automatically and accurately so that the effective spot position can be calculated more accurately and massaged reliably.
In the invention, the moving position of the massage drive unit when the changing rate of the internal pressure of said air cell to the moving distance of said massage drive unit fluctuates is discriminated as the position of the specific portion of the body of the using person with respect to said massaging apparatus.
By detecting the position at which the changing rate of the internal pressure of the air cell to the moving distance of the massage drive unit fluctuates, therefore, the position of the specific portion of the body of the using person can be discriminated simply but reliably. As shown in FIG. 13, for example, the position S, at which the internal pressure of the air cell starts its rise from an initial pressure Po while the massage drive unit is moving downward within a range Ls, provides the position at which the changing rate of the internal pressure of the air cell fluctuates and which corresponds to the shoulder position of the human body. By detecting that position S, therefore, the shoulder position can be discriminated simply but reliably. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 14, the position S, at which the internal pressure of the air cell returns to the initial value Po after the upward movement of the massage drive unit passed a range Lc, provides the position at which the changing rate of the internal pressure of the air cell fluctuates and which corresponds to the shoulder position of the human body. By detecting that position S, therefore, the shoulder position can be discriminated simply but reliably.
In the invention, the moving position of the massage drive unit when the internal pressure of said air cell starts or ends the fluctuation is discriminated as the position of the specific portion of the body of the using person with respect to said massaging apparatus.
By detecting the moving position of the massage drive unit when the internal pressure of the air cell starts or ends its fluctuation, therefore, the position of the specific portion of the body of the using person can be discriminated simply but reliably. As shown in FIG. 13, for example, the position S, at which the internal pressure of the air cell starts its rise from the initial pressure Po while the massage drive unit is moving downward within the range Ls, provides the position at which the internal pressure of the air cell has started its fluctuation and which corresponds to the shoulder position of the human body. By detecting that position S, therefore, the shoulder position can be discriminated simply and reliably. As shown in FIG. 14, on the other hand, the position S, at which the internal pressure of the air cell returns to the initial value Po after the upward movement of the massage drive unit passed over the range Lc, provides the position, at which the internal pressure of the air cell has ended its fluctuation and which corresponds to the shoulder position of the human body. By detecting that position S, therefore, the shoulder position can be discriminated simply but reliably.
In the invention, said position discriminating means discriminate the shoulder position of the body, and said effective spot calculating means calculates the positions of the individual thoracic vertebrae and the individual lumbar vertebrae from the shoulder position and calculates the effective spots from the calculated positions of the thoracic vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae.
The individual thoracic vertebrae and the individual lumbar vertebrae of the human body are arranged at a generally equal interval along the backbone of the human body, and their corresponding positions provide the individual effective spots of the backbone of the human body. By utilizing the positions of the thoracic vertebrae and the lumber vertebrae, therefore, the individual effective spots along the backbone of the human body can be calculated simply but accurately.
In the invention, when the effective spots of the body of the using person are to be massaged with said massage member, said massage member is caused to perform a pointing action to repeat the massage actions while moving with a width of several centimeters.
Even with more or less errors in the effective spot positions calculated and in the positions of the massage member having moved to the spot positions, therefore, these errors can be absorbed by the pointing actions of the massage member so that the effective spots positions can be reliably massaged by the massage member.
In the invention, the massaging apparatus further comprises: diagnostic inquiry means for performing a diagnostic inquiry to the using person; input means for inputting the answer of the using person to said diagnostic inquiry means; and treatment course decision means for deciding the treatment course on the basis of said answer.
As a result, the treatment course to be applied to the using person can be decided by the diagnostic inquiry so that the effective spot positions suitable for the using person can be treated simply but reliably by the stimulation.
In the invention, the treatment contents recorded in said memory means are the effective spot positions to be massaged according to the treatment course and the massage actions to be made on the effective spot positions, which are programmed by learning the treatments performed by a chiropractor or a massager.
As a result, the massage actions imitating the treating actions of the chiropractor or the massager as they are can be automatically made to perform the more effective treatments according to the treatment course.
In the invention, the treatment contents recorded in said memory means are the effective spot positions to be massaged according to the treatment course and the massage actions to be made on the effective spot positions, which are programmed by learning the clinical cases by the professors or the like of universities investigating the Eastern Medical Science.
As a result, the massage actions imitating those of the clinical cases by the professors or the like as they are can be automatically made to perform the more effective treatments according to the treatment course.
In the invention, said massage member is made movable along the body of the using person for massaging the effective spots along the backbone of the body of the using person.
By moving the massage member along the body of the using person, therefore, the plurality of effective spot positions along the backbone of the body of the using person can be efficiently massaged with the massage member.
In the invention, said massage member includes an air cell to be caused to extend/contract by feeding/discharging compressed air, for massaging the effective spots on the legs of the body of the using person.
As a result, the effective spot positions on the legs of the human body can be effectively massaged by pushing them softly with the air cell. In this respect, too, it is possible to perform the more effective treatments according to the treatment course.